Improvement in coffins



1. T EARNEST.

Coins.

vNo.150,843, PatemedMay12,174.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB T. EARNEST, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT iN cori-ma Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 150,843, dated May 12, 1874; application filed March 25, 1874. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. T. EARNEsT, of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Goffins; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view, showing the lid thrown back. Fig. 2 is a cross-section. Fig. 3 is a top view with lid removed.

My invention has for its object to utilize, in the manufacture of cofins, shorter pieces of lumber than have heretofore been used, and also to make coflins of a series of sizes, the pieces of a coffin of one particular size tting their respective places in cofns of other sizes,

thus enabling the undertaker to lengthen or shorten a cofn, as desired. Another object of my invention is to break the joints in the coflin, so as to render the coffin tighter and more secure.

My coffin can be taken apart for transportation, and readily tted together by the undertaker when he receives it.

Many coftins, as at present made, require a large amount of hand-labor, and especially the top, which, of course, is made to conform to the shape of the body of the coffin, the latter being destitute of that regularity which is.

positively necessary in using a top made by machinery. This irregularity of the body is owing to its sides being bent either by kerfing or steaming. Such uniformity in construction has been difficult to obtain, so as to make a cofiin of kerfed or steam-bent sides so that a top would fit any body of the same size; but each body has had to be supplied with a top made especially for it.

My improved coffin being made on models7 the bodies may be made in one factory and the tops in another, andthe top of any givensized coffin will always iit a body of the same size. The coffin being made entirely by machinery, the different sections are brought to an exact shape ready for the workman to clear off and varnish. After nishing, these parts or sections can` be economically stored until ordered for shipment, when they can be shipped in sections to the undertaker, who can put sides.

them together as needed, thus saving largely on freight and storage.

In order that those skilled in the art may make and use my invention, I will-proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawings, A is the head-piece of the coffin, made of the desired curve and proper ornamentation. At each end it has an offset, a, and a groove, a. tions or break-pieces, B B', on each side of the head-piece, connecting the latter with the sides, O. These panels are connected with each other, and with the sides and head-pieces, by means of grooves and dovetails, as shown in Fig. 1. The foot-piece E is made as the head-piece, having the offsets and grooves at its ends, and the side pieces O C are attached to its ends by the dovetails o c". The osets a, a, and a", with the grooves and dovetails, make a break-joint that insures aclosing of the seams vbetween the pieces. After the sides are put together, a strip or bead, d, is fastened around the lower edge and inside, on which the bottdln rests by means of the shoulder d. This strip is in sections corresponding to the length of the pieces, and is removable in sections along with the pieces forming the I hinge the lid l? of the coffin exactly at the break-joint which joins the break-pieces B B with side pieces O O, and the division is made below the beading i), so that when the top is thrown back the beading or molding goes with it, thus fully exposing the interior decorations of the coffin. The break-joint always coming to the same point enables me to hinge the top in this improved way.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new article of manufacture, a coffin made of the removable sections A, B, B', O, and E, secured by grooves and dovetails, and provided with the offsets or break-joints a a, Sto., substantially as herein described.

JACOB T. EARNEST.

Witnesses:

R. S. FRAZER, ALGERNON S. BELL, `DAVID W. BELL.

There are two sec 

